Water Pollution Pennsylvania

A barge loaded with 350,000 gallons of gasoline hit a bridge and ruptured Monday, spilling about 10,000 gallons of the fuel that formed a slick about 3 miles wide on the ice-choked Monongahela River, authorities said. The barge was one of at least 50 that broke loose from their moorings along a 40-mile stretch of the river between Brownsville and Pittsburgh. The leaking barge, which belongs to Gutman Oil Co.

The city agreed Wednesday to pay a record $1.5 million in fines for discharging inadequately treated waste from a sewage plant into the Delaware River, federal regulators said. The Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Resources had filed suit in 1988. U.S. Atty. Michael Baylson said the fines will be the highest a city has paid for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

A federal judge Thursday fined Ashland Oil Inc. a record $2.25 million for a 1988 oil spill that fouled two rivers in three states and threatened to disrupt drinking water supplies for more than 1 million people. Justice Department officials said it was the biggest penalty ever imposed against a company for a fuel spill. "It was something more than simple negligence that the company was guilty of," U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond said.

Environmental change--from polluted streams to congested highways and overdeveloped land--is affecting the quality of life across the nation. Such change is gradual and often goes unnoticed while it happens. To measure how various areas have been affected over the decades, The Times dispatched reporters to the places where they grew up. This occasional series of articles examines how our hometown environments have been altered--for better or for worse. "Hard times, hard coal."

Officials predicted there would be little environmental damage from 10,000 gallons of gasoline that leaked into the Monongahela River from a runaway barge, and a second loose barge carrying fuel was recovered Tuesday with its cargo intact. They were two of at least 55 barges that were ripped from their moorings along a 58-mile stretch of the Monongahela on Monday as chunks of ice rushed down the rain-swollen river. Some were empty and others were loaded with coal; 30 of the runaways sank.

Ashland Oil Co. Chairman John R. Hall's admission that his company made mistakes in erecting the diesel fuel tank that burst last Saturday may make company attorneys wince, but his frankness is playing well in the public arena. "Concern, contrition, openness, serving up the chief executive, being willing to pay for the damages within limits and supporting an outside investigation. Wow! Ring up the bell," said former American Motors Corp. Chairman Gerald Meyers.

A 30-mile fuel slick created by a punctured pipeline worked its way down the Allegheny River, forcing the closure of water-intake pipes and prompting water conservation orders for about 1 million people in a dozen communities. Authorities in the affected towns in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were monitoring the slick to determine when to shut intake valves to keep the mixture of gasoline and oil from tainting water supplies. They banned all non-essential use of water.

The city agreed Wednesday to pay a record $1.5 million in fines for discharging inadequately treated waste from a sewage plant into the Delaware River, federal regulators said. The Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Resources had filed suit in 1988. U.S. Atty. Michael Baylson said the fines will be the highest a city has paid for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

Ashland Oil Co. reached agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up ground water and soil contaminated by last January's rupture of a 4-million gallon tank of diesel fuel at the firm's facility outside Pittsburgh, Pa.

A diluted fuel spill crept down the Ohio River on Tuesday as emergency officials lifted mandatory water restrictions in most towns along the Allegheny River. The oily trail was more than 40 miles long, stretching from south of Freeport, where about 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel and gas leaked from a ruptured pipeline Friday night, to south of Pittsburgh.

Nearly 1 million people in the Pittsburgh area faced voluntary and mandatory water conservation orders Monday as treatment plants shut off intake valves against a 200,000-gallon fuel spill in the Allegheny River. Officials in Pittsburgh said the city was still pumping uncontaminated water from the river, and the spill appeared to be dissipating somewhat.

A 30-mile fuel slick created by a punctured pipeline worked its way down the Allegheny River, forcing the closure of water-intake pipes and prompting water conservation orders for about 1 million people in a dozen communities. Authorities in the affected towns in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties were monitoring the slick to determine when to shut intake valves to keep the mixture of gasoline and oil from tainting water supplies. They banned all non-essential use of water.

An oil tanker spilled about 150 gallons of oil into the Delaware River on Friday, the Coast Guard reported. Workers at the Sun Co. refinery dock noticed the spill as the 865-foot tanker Nike was unloading its cargo of light crude oil from Nigeria, officials said.

Officials predicted there would be little environmental damage from 10,000 gallons of gasoline that leaked into the Monongahela River from a runaway barge, and a second loose barge carrying fuel was recovered Tuesday with its cargo intact. They were two of at least 55 barges that were ripped from their moorings along a 58-mile stretch of the Monongahela on Monday as chunks of ice rushed down the rain-swollen river. Some were empty and others were loaded with coal; 30 of the runaways sank.

An oil tanker spilled about 150 gallons of oil into the Delaware River on Friday, the Coast Guard reported. Workers at the Sun Co. refinery dock noticed the spill as the 865-foot tanker Nike was unloading its cargo of light crude oil from Nigeria, officials said.

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Ashland Oil Inc. on charges that it violated federal environmental laws when more than 700,000 gallons of oil spilled into the Monongahela River in January, fouling drinking water in three states.

A barge loaded with 350,000 gallons of gasoline hit a bridge and ruptured Monday, spilling about 10,000 gallons of the fuel that formed a slick about 3 miles wide on the ice-choked Monongahela River, authorities said. The barge was one of at least 50 that broke loose from their moorings along a 40-mile stretch of the river between Brownsville and Pittsburgh. The leaking barge, which belongs to Gutman Oil Co.

Ashland Oil agreed Wednesday to pay a record $4.7 million to Pennsylvania in civil penalties and other costs arising from the nation's worst inland oil spill, in a settlement that could affect other states facing similar cleanups. The money will cover about $660,000 in direct cleanup costs already incurred in the 1988 spill and will also provide $4 million--including $1.25 million in civil penalties--for state environmental and educational funds.